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the abstract owner

/ðiː ˈæb.strækt ˈəʊ.nər/ - n.

1 [colloq.] Everyone agreed it was owned. No one could say by whom. The asset has a guardian the way the weather has a manager.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. A placeholder of accountability assigned to a team, function, or committee rather than a person who can be reached on a Tuesday.

Promoted

See also

accountabilityA quality every initiative is said to require and every org chart is careful never to locate.
data ownerA field on a slide, populated last quarter with the name of whoever wasn't there to refuse.
escalationSending a decision upward in search of an owner, where it is acknowledged, admired for its complexity, and sent back down for alignment.
the businessThe party to whom accountability is assigned precisely because it is not a person. The requirement came from the business, was approved by the business, and was owned, in the end, by no one who answers to that name.